Many companies allow a user to select one or more products from a product database on the Internet. For example, companies that provide online support for products sold under their brand and companies that sell products online. Often, the product database is organized in a hierarchy within which a user is allowed to navigate. Usually, each point in the hierarchy corresponds to a category or subcategory.
US 2004/0083203 discloses a method that allows a user to select criteria with which to filter products from a certain category of products.
A drawback of this approach is that only criteria are shown that are applicable to the selected category, which makes it more difficult for a user to understand the relationships between the categories.
WO 01/33315 describes that a when a user selects a first criterion, this may make a second criterion unavailable. WO 01/33315 does not disclose the combination of hierarchical navigation and selection of filter criteria or the interrelation between the two.